MP. Serwan Sereni. Vice President of Education Committee, Parliament of Iraq. The New Mail. Photo by Bahdin Sevo Sindi/License Photo

How would you evaluate the relationship between Iraqi Government and Kurdistan Region Government and what is different between Abady and Maliki’s policy? According to Iraqi constitution in 2005 as a Kurd we are a partner and we own some of the Iraq, up to now Kurdistan still one part of Iraq, all Iraqi governments since the 1920s till now we are in 2016 Haydar Abadi’s government never dealt fairly with Kurdish case neither respected the Kurdish nation’s issue. None of the Iraqi regimes had a belief of our case and they didn’t accept us as a different nation but treated us savagely and Kurdistan has been devastated many times by Iraqi regime.

Kurdistan and our Peshmarga had the main role to liberate Iraq in 2004, all opposites parties were living in Kurdistan and we welcomed them among us , after the liberation of Iraq Kurdistan Region has sent its best politics to Baghdad to contribute rebuilding the Iraq, we tried to help Iraq by all means, to establish a democratic system for all Iraqi communities and religious sects so they are able to live together and respect others right.

But with intense regret each government especially Nori Al Maliki ignored our right and changed his attitude against Kurdistan soon as became a Prime minister , Haydar Al Abady completely approached on Maliki’s policy. We were able to keep some of our right according to the constitution of Iraq, thus by effort of President Masoud Barzani who spent 50 days in Baghdad till he able to keep some of the Kurdistan right as part and partners in Iraq , but regrettably the executive bodies in central government ignored Kurdistan needs again and we had a week relation with the central government

Although Baghdad’s policy has a lack of communication with Kurdistan until this moment Baghdad’s government is very week, and It’s not at the required level in order to negotiate with them. Fortunately, Kurdistan was treated like a state by international communities . Erbil is the capital of the Kurdistan Region and its largest city. Today it is also the fastest growing city in Iraq, booming in ways that seemed impossible a decade ago. In spite of its conservative nature, Erbil is a tolerant city with a variety of polarized ethnicities and religions that have found ways to coexist in a part of the world where different cultures often struggle to exist side by side. This alone makes Kurdistan’s capital an attractive destination.

This question always in my mind, Iraq as known one of the strongest opponents of the State of Kurdistan, how does this effect on you as a Kurdish MP in Iraqi parliament ? As a Kurd, we have to be strong and one family in Kurdistan , if we are one had no one can defeat us, but unfortunately Kurds has been the main reason to get defeated and they are the main factor of being dispersed. When Hayder Al Abady visited Kurdistan , rather than he visit the capital of Kurdistan ( Erbil) he went to Sulaymania only to create distortion in Kurdish community and he had a great role in creating the political crises in Kurdistan Region , we saw this in decades on how Kurds were not able to compromise together , this led to many humanitarian disasters such as civil wars. Abady’s policy was not only to demolish the Kurdish community but to the marginalization of the Sunni Arabs . We have seen how Maliki he imposed the economic sanction on Kurdistan, to terminate Peshmarga’s wage, and to end 17% of Kurdistan Oil share, surely Abadi followed the same policy.Those all factors led to a collapse of Mosul and they brought Isis also handed more than 13 Millar USA Dollar to Isis.

And how did Iraqi sanction effected on Kurdistan’s economy? Of course, it did affect negatively especially after falling the Oil price ,the marketing systems partially paralysed, as well as some investment companies have stopped investing or reduced it , Lack of cash led to reducing financial liquidity and this, in turn, led to the weakening purchasing power of low-income owners, it means Kurdistan is facing an economic crises now. We are facing a huge problem in Kurdistan which is corruption , I believe if Kurdistan resources evenly distributed we will overcome all crises, the corruption is a chronic disease Kurdistan government needs to get rid of it very quick before its too late. Another thing I wouldn’t agree with , Kurdistan now graduating hundred thousands of students each year without recruiting, more than 2 Million people paid monthly salaries . In order to be able to cope with these crises, there must be social justice and a fair distribution of wealth. I hope unemployment and economics crises also the central government chauvinist policy to become a good lesson for us so we are able to stand on our feet again .

To what level as a Kurd MP in Iraqi parliament has your voice to listen? Of course in the last third session on Iraqi Parliament we have a rate of 20% about 66 Parliament members , we didn’t allow any decision to be made without Kurdistan’s benefits , and when we are not agreed with them we would protest against any meeting until our need to listen. I believe we had a good role but like I’ve mentioned before the executive bodies did not implement our demands .All these political and economic crises are created by this failed government , the result is, as we can see now, people went out to the streets and demanding a change of government and the judiciary. In short sentence Iraq has been divided, each part has its own role without any experience .As a Kurd, we need to wake up and to be more creative to rebuild Kurdistan, especially Isis is only 20km away from us our Peshmerga gets martyred every day , this need to end as a peaceful nation we shouldn’t sacrifice anymore . We must not let some sick people to weaken our resolve . We have Strong mothers of our martyrs, with our faith we will overcome to all, and will not let anyone to snatch these achievements from us .

What did president Masoud Barzani get in Munich summit? The participation of President Massoud Barzani in this summit got great achievements and historical and won the international community’s support for the independence of Kurdistan and to support the Peshmerga against Daash the terrorist organisation who defeated by our Peshmarga . The Peshmarga is the only force who defeated Isis in the world we are proud of this also most of the world are proud of our Peshmarga’s victory on the ground ,up to now more than 1430 Peshmarga lost their lives in this war , our Peshmarga is fighting for the whole world, communities culture and religions . The evidence that the Kurdistan is a homogeneous mixture of all peoples and religions living in Kurdistan Region. Where this visit was very fruitful morally and logistic, President Massoud Barzani gained direct support for the independence of Kurdistan. I am very hopeful Kurdistan will be independence by the end of this year with the effort of President Masoud Barzani.

How do you evaluate the compatibility between political parties? I can’t say we were 100% succeeded but to some extent there has been some progress, and what we see now all this achievement is the struggle of these parties especially PDK is the oldest , biggest and much better experience party who had the major stability role in Kurdistan , but it doesn’t mean PDK it perfect too , yes there are some mistakes and excesses by some politicians, but in return I can say PDK has played the best role of keeping Kurdistan safe and this is the outcome of its efforts. Now most of PDK leaders and Peshmarga are in front line defending Kurdistan against Isis . Yes, It has been some misunderstanding between political parties maybe because of lack of communications , but as a democratic system, we must understand each other to establish positive relations like peaceful coexistence and forgiveness . Waiver of political parties and KDP for the presidency of the parliament to party of change was in the best interests of the Kurdish people and Kurdistan government , accepting someone young to be a president of Parliament wasn’t for his long struggle history, it was only the respect to change party administration and its ability, all this indicates that the PDK are playing a positive role in Kurdistan .

How do you assess the democratic experience in Kurdistan? Democratic experience in Kurdistan will not be like the European countries because of the geographical location it is located in the Middle East and were oppressed by neighbouring governments, but compared to the Arab countries, especially Iraq’s Kurdistan which earned more democratic , if we compare last 20 years till absolutely it has been improved . and I am hopeful that the last meeting of UN representative and all five countries were very successful with the President Masoud Barzani they emphasized to help Kurdistan in all respects.

Since 2004 after falling of Baghdad till now two Iraqi President were Kurdish , what did they do for Kurdish case as a Kurd? The first thing to secure the Kurdish issue in the Iraqi constitution , the second thing Taking this post was a political consensus between the components of the Iraqi people and the destination was a distribution of the presidency between Sunnis and Shiites and Kurds .

In any case, I did not get a satisfying answer. I mean the president must have his own opinion and to defend the rights of his people, not only the Kurds but all shades of the Iraqi people. President Jalal Talabani at least said some jokes in press conferences, but Fuad Masum, has no voice it is just a curiosity I would like to hear his voice.